Beta

It is finally happening, we will finally be able to enjoy Border Break. At least, if you want to play on Japanese servers since we still haven’t gotten a confirmation if this game is getting a release outside of Japan. I’ll be honest, its frustrating to see all these tiny Atlus 3DS RPGs getting day one western announcements and a SEGA-AM2 arcade port being met with silence.

The Border Break PS4 beta client will be up to download starting February 1st around noon JST. The following is the schedule for actually trying the game:

No this isn’t the infamous Sonic Xtreme originally developed for the SEGA Saturn but cancelled due to development hell. Sonic Extreme was a cancelled skateboarding game originally pitched by a development studio called Vision Scope Interactive, which as the name suggested involved Sonic characters preforming skateboarding tricks and races similar to the famous Tony Hawk Pro Skater series involving hover boards. A prototype of the game was originally found in a Xbox devkit and leaked on the internet in 2011.

Liam Robertson, a known contributor to the website Unseen64 that specializes in beta and cancelled video games, decided to investigate further into how the game was originally pitched by contacting Vision Scope Interactive employees. The results includes how the opportunity came to be due to helping with developing the CG cutscenes in Sonic Heroes, how the prototype was quickly assembled and pitched, and it’s connection to the similar Sonic Riders released years later.

What Sonic Extreme might have been if it became a full title is unknown, but it’s nice to know more information about another curious case in Sonic’s history.

Sonic Unleashed is seen as one of the biggest 3D entries in the history of Sonic. Whether you like the werehog or not, it brought a massive overhaul to the game design philosophy of Sonic working in the third dimension. The beautiful environments based on real-life locations, fast gameplay and a unique lighting engine all housed under the “Hedgehog Engine” helped achieve a major milestone for fast-paced 3D platformers. Fast forward towards the end of the downer year that is 2016, it has brought us one thing that can shed some meaningful insight on the development of Sonic Unleashed; the release of an Xbox 360 preview build.

Games change during development, even change after media journalists have gotten a good look at the game. Creative Assembly’s Alien: Isolation is no different. The footage above shows what could have been Alien: Isolation before they changed it to first person prospective.

Personally think they did the right move making it first person due to the nature of using melee combat and I hate using melee combat in 3rd person shooters (see: Gears of War, Binary Domain and Uncharted series).

The live show is already over, but you can check out the archived stream above as well as more content below and after the jump!

This week’s live show on SEGA Channel Retro is a tour through the Windy Valley Beta Mod that was released recently for Sonic Adventure DX. We’ll also have CorvidDude, the author of the mod bringing his insight on restoring the level from the AutoDemo.

I’m joined by Overlord, GeneHF and OverlyEquippedin our little venture as we also check out the latest Sonic title, Sonic Jump Fever as well as catch up with Sonic Dash with Andronic. Also say hello to me as I try to roll eggs with Billy Hatcher in SEGA Superstars. Finally I take a blind look at Atlus and ACE Team’s latest offering, Abyss Odyssey.

Since this is for South East Asia, it will be a bit hard to get a key to the close beta, but don’t worry it won’t impossible. The following are community moderators at Asiasoft which will be giving out beta codes. Go ask them nicely:

We already know that SEGA got ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth out on Xbox, but the game was originally being worked on for Dreamcast. This isn’t the only game, lots of early SEGA 3rd party games where mean’t to be Dreamcast titles, like Shinobi and Gunvalkyrie. Seems like the unfinished Dreamcast versions of these games never see the light of day, thankfully there are people that find them. That is what happen here.

The person that found the rare gem is a forum member from Assemble Games that goes by the handle ZakhooiTM. Mr. ZakhooiTM is starting a fund raiser to get the code online, for all public to freely download and try. You can find more information here. Above is over 30 minutes of gameplay from the beta and after the jump we have 2-player mode footage. Enjoy

If you are considering picking up Company of Heroes 2, due to all the rave the first game got about its multiplayer modes. You are now in luck, the game has entered open beta. You can get on and play through steam.

“We’ve added new match-making servers, implemented a significant amount of Closed Beta feedback and fixed more bugs, compatibility and performance issues than I can count. The team will continue to read comments and feedback in our official forums and participate in regular playtests with the community. We’ll be patching the beta frequently and getting into a good rhythm for our post launch support cycle. Please keep the comments and suggestions coming – we do care and are listening!” – Greg Wilson, Company of Heroes 2 producer

I’m there with many of you getting excited about Phantasy Star Online 2 on the Vita. I mean, it’s an awesome idea, take the PC game on the go without a big laptop? Awesome idea. Almost as awesome as a console version *nudge nudge SEGA*. So how is cross-play going to work between the PC and Vita?

SEGA will set up ships, some of the ships will be PC only (ships = servers) and on the Vita they will have their own ships only for Vita owners. But don’t worry, there will be several ships that will allow users to play with PC and Vita users. Nice to see this option.

Just like the PC version, the Vita game will be free-to-play. Not only that, it will also be a free download. Only downside is that you WILL HAVE TO BE ONLINE TO PLAY. No offline mode at all.

Another downside is that you will only be able to have one account per memory card. So if you want to share a Vita with someone, you will have to save up money for a new memory card.

They have also suggested that the Playstation Vita version will be getting a beta. Sounds exciting. Now release the game in the West, come on!

A clearer video of the Dengeki Event video has been uploaded to the internet, titled “PSO2 Closed Beta New Elements.” The trailer details some of the new features players will come across in the closed beta. Mags baby!

Closed Beta Features

Now the lobby from the Alpha Test has expanded into two areas. There’s a Gate area and Shop area, with some new facilities like the Medical Center.

New weapon category, Partisans that has a “twirl” move which can fill up the “gear gauge.” It’s quicker than the sword and can hit surrounding enemies.

Launchers, it is heavier than the assault rifle, so you can’t move and shoot at the same time. Its projectiles can give explosive damage.

Talis (Cards), like a shooting weapon, you can just throw it to give damage. Or, you can throw it and cast technics off of it.

Mags, an artificial life form that grows up when you feed it items. It can attack enemies directly if it becomes a “Striking” type Mag. If it is a “Range” type mag, it can shoot from a distance from the player’s position. It can offer support to the player too. With an item called a “device”, actions can be added by specific conditions.
Photon Blasts, by filling the blast gauge, mags can transform into a mythical beast and fight alongside with the player.

Phantasy Star Online 2′s second Media Briefing will take place on Monday March 26th, 2012 @ 13:30 JST. It will feature infomation about the closed beta, billing infomation, future development schedule and new game information.

I’ve spent the last two days playing ‘Spiral Knights’, Published by Sega and developed by Three Rings (of Puzzle Pirates fame) Spiral Knights is a free MMO-Action game which plays in a similar way to Phantasy Star Online.

Based on what I have played so far the game is a very enjoyable experience. It’s quite easy to get into and understand what’s going on, right off the bat. Unlike many MMO’s where you can often find yourself bogged down with fetch quests, waiting ages for people to play with and hundreds of items to sift through, Spiral Knights is light on all of that nonsense.
Mush like PSO you can hop in and out at any time and find a party in moments of logging in.

Did you know that when Sonic Adventure 2 was announced only Sonic, Eggman and Knuckles were suppose to be playable characters? Yeah, explains why Tails had to play in that big robot suit and exactly like Eggman himself.

Check out the video from Unseen64, talking about changes in the game. It is a great watch.

SEGA is now taking beta testers for their upcoming browser based game, MLB Manager ONline. This is going to be SEGA’s first official browser based game. If you want to be part of the beta, you have from now till December 27th to sign up. You can sign up here.

You will be able to make your all-star baseball team from “over 900 active athletes.” Sounds boring, but I don’t like sports games.